U.S. Senator, Minister to France, Secretary of
War, Secretary of the Treasury

William Harris Crawford was born in
Amherst (now Nelson) County, Virginia, on February
24, 1772. He moved with his father to the Edgefield
District of South Carolina in
1779, and to Richmond (now Columbia) County, Georgia, in 1783. He
attended Moses Waddel's Carmel Academy in Appling, and
the Richmond Academy in Augusta, and then studied law
privately; he was subsequently admitted to the bar, and
commenced practice in Lexington in 1799. In 1799 he was
appointed to help prepare a digest of the laws of
Georgia; Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia,
written with Horatio Marbury, was published in 1801. He
married Susanna Gerardin in 1804, and ultimately had nine
children.

Crawford's political career began in
1803, when he was elected to represent Oglethorpe County
in the Georgia House of Representatives; he served until
1807.

In 1807, Crawford was chosen by the
Georgia Legislature to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy
caused by the death of Abraham Baldwin. He took his seat
on November 7, 1807, and served until March 23, 1813.
During his tenure, he supported rechartering of the Bank
of the United States, and President James
Madison's embargo measures
against Great Britain.

Crawford declined appointment as
President Madison's third Secretary of War in 1813, but
accepted the post of Minister to France, in which
capacity he served until 1815. Upon his return to America
he agreed to become Madison's fourth Secretary of War,
and served in that capacity from August 1815 to October
1816.

Crawford ran for President in 1816, but
only received 54 votes to James Madison's 65 votes from
the Republican congressional caucus. He subsequently
agreed to be Madison's Secretary of the Treasury, and ended up serving through James Monroe's term as well. During his tenure as Treasury
Secretary, Crawford helped organize the treasury more
efficiently, and oversaw the creation of a fort system
along the eastern seaboard and construction of the
Cumberland Road from Virginia to the Midwest.

In 1824, Crawford was the Democratic
Republican candidate for President. He finished third,
behind John Quincy Adams and Andrew
Jackson. Although Jackson
received the majority of popular votes, he failed to get
a majority of electoral votes, and the election had to be
decided by the House of Representatives. On December 1,
1824, the House decided the election in favor of Adams,
much to the consternation of Jackson.

President Adams asked Crawford to stay
on as Secretary of the Treasury, but he declined because
of ill health. Appointed judge of the Northern Circuit
Court of Georgia in 1827, Crawford served in that
capacity until shortly before his death. He died in
Oglethorpe County, Georgia, on September 15, 1834.

Crawford County, the town of
Crawford in Oglethorpe County, and the town of
Crawfordville in Taliaferro County (all in Georgia) were
named for him.